Once known for leading India on field and off, Anil Kumble now sees something familiar in Abhishek Sharma. Not quiet like others, this left-handed batter swings hard from ball one – more spark than steady flame. Where he stumbles? Turning early fireworks into long innings, a hurdle many watch closely. Think Virender Sehwag – not just wild hitting but knowing when to stay put. Young Abhishek surges fast yet too often fades before big runs show. Balance matters here; fire needs fuel that lasts beyond first overs.
He reminded me of Virender Sehwag, always aiming to hit each delivery hard. Yet when shifting from Tests to one-day matches, and later to T20s, he saw how timing needed a new shape. Though power stayed key, control began to matter more once formats changed.
“But Sehwag would still go at a 140–150 strike-rate. So, that’s something Abhishek Sharma needs to start thinking about, saying, ‘I’ve been scoring at 200 strike-rate, expectations are on me, should I now go at a strike rate of 300?’ No, you just have to be normal. You have to play a number of balls,” Kumble said on JioStar.
When Abhishek Sharma faces around twenty deliveries in a match, chances are he’s nearing fifty. Take Sanju Samson, for instance – skipping past the forties or fifties without falling, pushing further into the eighties or even near ninety.
“That’s what you need in the T20 format. Maybe that’s the kind of maturity you will see in Abhishek this season, which SRH will be hoping for,” he added.
Fans saw Abhishek struggle during the T20 World Cup, performance falling flat. Come March 28, though, he steps back onto the field – this time wearing Sunrisers Hyderabad colors in the IPL.
